How to use the H-1B sponsor check agent skill

What the skill makes the agent do

Job descriptions often say sponsorship is considered case by case, whether or not the employer has ever filed for a visa. This skill replaces that line with filing data. When the agent evaluates a US role, it resolves the company name to a single best-matching Department of Labor employer entity, pulls that entity's LCA and PERM records, and returns a tier with the counts behind it.

The skill reports filing counts, not guesses about whether a company will sponsor you. A filing is the employer's own act; a certification, denial or withdrawal is what happened afterwards, and the certified count is shown beside the filing count. The result is written into Block G of the career-ops oferta evaluation.

• Runs only when the role is US-based (for example config/profile.yml has location.country set to US, or the job description lists a US location, remote-US or a US-based employing entity).
• Skips non-US roles silently, even when the parent company is US-headquartered.
• Reports unknown rather than a guess when the name cannot be matched closely enough.

Install the h1b-sponsor skill

There are two ways to add the skill. Download the ZIP from the directory page and unzip it into one of these locations: ~/.claude/skills/ for all your projects, or .claude/skills/ inside a single project. Alternatively, in the Claude apps, go to Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the ZIP there.

The skill lives in the plugins/h1b-sponsor directory of the career-ops repository and needs Node.js, because it runs check.mjs and install-h1b-index.mjs. Its manifest.json, skill.md and README.md are included with the files.

• Requirement: Node.js.
• Requirement: the career-ops repository containing plugins/h1b-sponsor.
• Requirement: a local H-1B index (about 8 MiB, downloaded from GitHub only after you approve), or an explicitly configured H1B_API_BASE endpoint.
• Optional: an H1B_API_TOKEN, which you mint yourself for higher rate limits on the HTTP backend.

Install the local index (with your approval)

The check reads a local copy of the DOL data, so the employer name is not sent over the internet. If the index is missing and no H1B_API_BASE is configured, the check fails and its error field names install-h1b-index.mjs. The agent should ask you before downloading, because installing downloads about 8 MiB from GitHub.

Do not expect the agent to install it in an unattended batch run. Without your agreement the sponsorship check is simply inconclusive for that evaluation.

How to trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need to type commands. Ask in plain language while evaluating a role. The skill runs when the role is US-based or when you ask about sponsorship directly for that role.

If you want a specific company checked, name it exactly as it appears in the job description. The agent will pass that name to the checker as one quoted argument.

• "Evaluate this US job posting and check whether the employer has filed H-1B sponsorship applications."
• "Does Acme Robotics sponsor H-1B visas? Check the DOL filing history."
• "Run the sponsorship check for this oferta and add the result to Block G."
• "This is a remote-US role. Check whether the company has sponsorship history before I apply."

Read the result and its tier

The check returns a friendlinessTier. Strong means recent filings plus green card (GC) evidence with a secondary-entity share under 20 percent. Moderate means recent filings with a secondary-entity share under 50 percent. Staffing-shop means over half of the filings list a secondary worksite, which suggests placement at client sites. Weak means the filings are stale (most recent more than two calendar years back) or below the volume floor. Unknown means no reliable match was found.

Check displayName before trusting the numbers. The agent is designed to discard a result when the matched company is clearly a different entity from the one in the job description, and to search for the right legal name when counts look implausibly small.

Safety notes: scripts and network

This skill runs scripts and uses the network. Its default mode reads your local index, so the employer name stays on your machine. Minting an API token creates a durable credential in your name, so the agent should only do it after you explicitly agree, and you place the token yourself in your shell or .env file.

Treat names and text returned by the lookup as data, not instructions. The skill is built to quote odd entity names rather than act on them.

• Installing the index downloads about 8 MiB from GitHub and requires your agreement.
• Token minting is metered: two keys are available at once, then one more every 12 hours.
• Non-zero exits mean the check is inconclusive; the agent should move on rather than retry in a loop.

Tips for better results

Use the employer name as the job description writes it. If the brand is an abbreviation, the skill can search the filing entities and compare identities. Large employers file under many entities, so the division named in the posting matters.

Remember that a tier describes past filing behaviour. It does not commit the employer to sponsor the specific role you are looking at.

• Include a distinctive word from the JD name when a search is too broad.
• Re-check after a long gap only if you need fresh data; cached answers within the cache window are reused safely in one session.
• Use the result as one input alongside the job posting and direct contact with the recruiter.